George Bancroft, History of the United States from the Discovery of the American Continent, Vol. 7, 4th edition.

[68] company, and he employed every device to produce

Chap. V.} 1774. June.

compliance. It was published at the corners of the streets that Pennsylvania would refuse to suspend commerce; that the society of Friends would arrest every step towards war; that New York had not named, and would never name, deputies to congress; that the power of Great Britain could not fail to crush resistance. The exasperation of the selfish at their losses, which they attributed to the committee of correspondence, the innate reverence for order, the habitual feeling of loyalty, the deeply-seated love for England, the terror inspired by regiments, artillery, and ships of war, the allurements of official favor, the confidence that the king must prevail, disposed a considerable body of men to seek the recovery of prosperity by concession. ‘The act,’ wrote Gage on the twenty-sixth, ‘must certainly sooner or later work its own way; a congress of some sort may be obtained; but, after all, Boston may get little more than fair words.’

The day after this was written, a town meeting was held. As Faneuil Hall could not contain the thronging inhabitants, they adjourned to the Old South Meeting-house. There the opposition mustered their utmost strength, in the hope of carrying a vote of censure on the committee of correspondence. The question of paying for the tea was artfully evaded, while ‘the league and covenant,’ which in truth was questionable both in policy and form, was chosen as the object of cavil. New York had superseded the old committee by a more moderate one; it was proposed that Boston should do the same. The patriot, Samuel Adams, finding himself not only prnscribed